HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A Hollywood family wonders what they’ll do next after a tree fell onto the roof and left a huge hole at 7440 Hope St.
According to residents in the area, a tree fell after it was struck by lightning just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
7News camera captured the downed tree as it lay in the damaged home.
Jamaila Mendez, a resident said her mother was home when the incident happened and saw what happened.
“My mother was home at the time, and the tree fell, and the lighting struck and hit the tree, and it crashed into the side on top of the roof, and it made a hole in the bathroom and there’s a beehive in the tree that is, now everywhere,” said Mendez.
Mendez wasn’t home at the time of the incident but she said when she walked into the house, she saw the mess in the bathroom where part of the ceiling had collapsed onto the tile.
“When I came home, I saw the big gaping hole in the bathroom,” said Mendez.
The backyard was more of an issue for this family as a beehive was in the tree, which caused several bees to escape into the home’s yard.
7 News captured bees all over the trunk and residents said that may cause some delays in repairing the damage to the home.
“Nobody can get to it, until they come in and clear the beehive first,” said Mendez.
Four people who are renters live in the home and now trying to figure out how long it’ll take to fix this.
“The FPL people were already out here, and the city said we have to first clear the area, the firetrucks they came and they said they can’t get in until the bees are gone,” said Mendez.
A crew cut up and threw pieces of a tree off the side of a home and onto a big pile.
Isidora Mendez was shocked when she saw their backyard tree cut in half.
“It hit the top of the ceiling, and I mean the roof and I was shocked,” she said. “It was raining real hard.”
Mendez was home when it happened and her family has been renting this house, along hope street for several years.
“So, I was putting up the groceries and I heard a big clunk with the thunder, and next things I know, I heard, I saw and looked out, I saw the tree come at us,” said Mendez. “So when I went around, I looked in the bathroom, there was a big hole above the toilet.”
Pieces of the ceiling were fallen onto the tile, leaving the family of four with bigger issues.
“We’ll make it, hopefully, I mean that’s all we can do,” said Mendez.
The red cross stopped by to talk to the family and they packed up their things and left.
“I have medical issues and stuff so we go through a lot of stuff day by day but we’re good,” said Mendez.
Officials placed a warning sign on the front door, calling the rental unsafe.
There were no injuries reported at the rented home, but parts of the tree broke through the roof.
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